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Rules of Acquisition
' |image= |series= |production=40512-427 |producer(s)= |story=Hilary Bader |script=Ira Steven Behr |director=David Livingston |imdbref=tt0708593 |guests=Max Grodénchik as Rom, Wallace Shawn as Grand Nagus Zek, Helene Udy as Pel, Tiny Ron as Maihar'du, Brian Thompson as Inglatu, Emilia Crow as Zyree |previous_production=Melora |next_production=Necessary Evil |episode=DS9 S02E07 |airdate= 7 November 1993 |previous_release=Melora |next_release=Necessary Evil |story_date(s)=Unknown (2370) |previous_story= Attached Dark Page |next_story= Force of Nature Necessary Evil }} =Summary= Grand Nagus Zek shows up at the station and commissions Quark to negotiate a deal for the purchase of ten thousand vats of tulaberry wine from a Gamma Quadrant race called the Fearing that Zek is Iooking for a scapegoat should the negotiations fail, Quark takes on a consultant named Pel - a recent addition to his staff at the bar. He doesn’t know she’s actually a Ferengi female. Then Zek suddenly ups the purchase to one hundred thousand vats. Stunned, the Dosi angrily storm back to the Gamma Quadrant. Quark and Pel follow and soon discover that the Dosi simply don’t have one hundred thousand vats. However, one of the negotiators agrees to introduce them to the Karemma - an important power in The Dominion. She says that everyone must do business with the Dominion in the Gamma Quadrant. This is the piece of information Zek really wanted from the negotiations. He rewards Quark with a percentage of the profits from the Gamma Quadrant. Unfortunately, Rom has discovered that Pel is a female, and a short time later Pel herself reveals this scandalous fact to Zek. In Ferengi society, females are not allowed to wear clothes and acquire profit. Only Quark’s intervention keeps Pel from going to prison, but it costs him his Gamma Quadrant percentage in return. =Errors and Explanations= Plot Oversights # Rom discovers that Pel is a female after he searches her quarters in a fit of jealousy. He finds the case where she keeps her extra pair of synthetic ears and the tools she uses to put them on and take them off. l wonder why she didn't take this along on her trip to the Gamma Quadrant with Quark. What if her lobes had been damaged? That would increase the risk of detection, as someone is bound to want the case searched. # l guess the old saying that men sometimes marry women just like their mothers holds true. In this episode Quark falls for an independent-minded, profit-seeking Ferengi female. Though he refuses to pursue a relationship with Pel, he does give her a stake of ten bars of latinum to start a new life. Interestingly enough, in Family Business, we discover that Pel is just like Quark’s mother. (The only difference is: Quark can stand his mother!) Quark’s attitude may have changed in the interim. Equipment Oddities # Near the beginning of the episode, Zek secures Sisko’s permission to use the station for negotiations with the Dosi. Afterward Zek walks toward the doors. We hear them open. Then he stops and walks all the "way back to Sisko’s desk. Amazingly, the doors know he will be leaving soon and remain open until he does leave. The computer registered Zek’s intention to leave the office. # The pattern used when Quark and Pel retum to Zek’s shuttle from the Dosi doesn’t match the transporter pattern used by the Ferengi in NextGen. For instance, in The Battle,the Ferengi transporter featured a spiraling bolt of energy that surrounded the person being transported. The transporter patterns seen in this episode are much more similar to those of a Cardassian transporter. Perhaps the Dosi beamed them back to the shuttle or Zek bought his transporter at a discount. It could also be an upgrade to the Ferengi transporter. Continuity And Production Problems # The grand nagus appears to reading his lines when he first contacts Quark over subspace. He probably wrote down what he wanted to say, to make sure he got it right. # Rom’s teeth seem to be a little loose. Toward the end of the episode he chows down on what looks like a dark-colored baby crab. As he bites into it, his teeth move. They could have worn loose due to Rom constantly grinding them in frustration of the Pel situation. Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Wednesday, July 26, 2000 - 12:02 am: So Rom doesn't want anyone coming between him and his brother? Wasn't it just under a year earlier (16 shows) in The Nagus that Rom tried to blow Quark out of an airlock? ''dotter31 on Sunday, March 25, 2007 - 5:15 pm:''No one came between them. Rom took action himself, not an outside force as was done here. Rom was also very contradictory in this episode (saying he didn't want anything to come between them, but also hoping Quark died so Rom would get the bar) # D.K. Henderson on Sunday, April 03, 2005 - 11:51 am: It seems to me that the Ferengi are missing out on a nice profit in - girdles! That jacket that Pel wears does not look particularly tight, yet it completely disguises her...um...female attributes, which are reasonably ample. The loose fit was part of the disguise. # I notice that humans do not have a monopoly on denying the obvious. Even though Pel has proven beyond all doubt that Ferengi women can be as capable as men, Quark's mother Ishka will still have a long, hard fight ahead of her. A lot of cultures traditionally (and unfairly) regard women as being less worthy than men! # This episode also introduces the Ferengi game of Tongo. Possibly also beetle snuff. Pick P. Pick on Saturday, August 13, 2005 - 3:03 pm: Re: Tongo... If it's a Ferengi game, and Ferengi were unknown to the Federation before TNG, how could Curzon have played it so much? Anti-Pick P. Pick on Friday, November 25, 2005 - 11:27 am: There were 5 years between the time that the Enterprise D first encountered the Ferengi and when Curzon died before the episode of DS9. A person could play A LOT of Tongo in 5 years if they didn't have anything better to do. dotter31 on Sunday, March 25, 2007 - 5:15 pm: We know that the Ferengi entered the same space as the (soon-to-be) Federation did, as shown in Acquisition (ENT) Perhaps they left the game behind on a planet they visited, or maybe they sold it to other cultures. omnidragon on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - 4:06 pm: The Ferengi did no such thing as there was no contact with them until the 24th century! ScottN on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - 6:34 pm: Perhaps the Ferengi were known to the Klingons? dotter31 on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 11:53 pm: I realize that there was no contact, but both the Ferengi and humans had visited the same area of space prior to first contact. This may have allowed Tongo to be spread to the Federation without having contacted the Ferengi directly. # dotter31 on Sunday, March 25, 2007 - 5:15 pm: Rom says that Ferengi women are not allowed to play Tongo. Then why is there a female division of the Global Tongo Championships, as described in Ferengi Love Songs? (tucked away in the sub-basement, as Ishka put it). The rules may have been relaxed before the events of Ferengi Love Songs. # I don't know if the concept that Ferengi women can't leave Ferenginar started here, but I know it was mentioned. The Ferengi must not have any colony worlds, at least ones with families on them, if the women can't leave. This is not a wise societal policy for a spacefaring civilization, in case some disaster befell Ferenginar. Establishing colony worlds is very expensive, and would increase the risk of other races finding out about Ferengi restrictions on females. Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine